Mini “paczkis” and coffe

Join us for our parish “Fat Tuesday” after all the Masses this weekend. Mini “paczkis”

and coffee will be served. Information about our Lenten programs will be available.

Mardi Gras, literally “Fat Tuesday,” has its roots in the Christian calendar as the “last hurrah” before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. Carnival comes from the Latin words carne vale, meaning “farewell to the flesh” or “removal of meat.” The Carnival Season actually begins with the Epiphany, also known as Twelfth Night

or Three Kings’ Day. Epiphany, which falls on January 6th (12 days after Christmas)

celebrates the visit of the Wise Men bearing gifts for the infant Jesus. Carnival is more commonly viewed as the three-day period preceding the beginning of Lent –
The Sunday, Monday & Tuesday immediately before Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of the Lenten Season.

Carnival or Mardi Gras is usually a period of celebration, originally a festival before the fasting during the Season of Lent begins. Locally, it’s not unusual to see lines of people standing outside bakeries before dawn on Fat Tuesday, waiting to pick up paczkis (pronounced POONCH-keys). Packis are deep-fried pieces of dough filled with jelly, chocolate or other crème filling. Traditionally, this is the day when our ancestors consumed the last of the sugar, butter and eggs in the house before the Lenten 40 days of fasting began.